Grain door



FLEXIBLEEQ PORTABLE. i

Aug. 25, 1925. Q 1,550,883

' A. COPONY GRAIN DOOR Filed Feb. 26, 1923 j v gnvcutor- A Alfred Capo?Gummy FLEXIBLE 8c PORTABLE. j

faltentfl Aug. 4:), 1:140.

ALFRED COPOIN'Y, OF MOUNT CLEMENS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGN'OR OF ONE-SIXTH TOTHEODORE W. SWIFT AND ONE-SIXTH TO LELAND M. SWIFT, BO IH 035 DETROIT,

MICHIGAN.

GRAIN DOOR.

Application filed February 26, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED CoroNY, a citizen of the Austrian Republic,residing at Mount Clemens, in the county of Macomb and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GrainDoors, of which the following is a specification, reference being hadtherein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to grain doors and refers more particularly tograin doors such as are adapted for use in freight cars or other commoncarriers.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide an improved grain doorof the character above referred to, which can be more economicallyconstructed than those now in use; to provide in effect a truss bracing;to provide an improved grain door that will prevent the spilling orleaking out of the grain; to prevent bulging of the grain door andpossible binding of the regular car door. The invention also resides inthe novel feature of adjustment whereby the door can be used with cardoor openings of different widths which will provide a space between thetop of the grain door and the car roof for filling the car. Still otherfeatures of the invention are the novel arrangement for saving in thecost of lumber or other material, the improved arrangement for attachingand detaching the door from the car and in such further features ofconstruction and combination of parts as will more fully hereinafterappear.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a grain door embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the construction shown in Figure1;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Describing first in detail the particular embodiment of my inventionshown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, A designates the side of a freight carhaving the inner wall A and the outer wall A secured at the dooropenings B to the door post B. For closing the door opening B there isthe regular sliding door 0 which in its closed position slidescompletely across the door opening B. However, where grain is handled infreight cars, it is customary to provide a supplemental door known as agrain door.

Serial N0. 621,411.

Heretofore there has mainly been employed for this purpose heavy boardsnailed or otherwise secured to the door posts. This not only results inthe waste of lumber but requires much heavier boards than is necessarywith the present novel construction of grain door. As shown in Figures1, 2 and 3, the grain door D is formed in two sections D and D which arehinged together at B by suitable hinges B At the hinged joint betweenthe door sections D and D I preferably employ a canvas guard E which islooped back unto itself at E so as to permit the angular position of thetwo sections D and D with reference to each other to be shifted without,however, permitting the grain to leak out through the joint. Each ofthese door sections D and D is preferably made up of superimposedportions D and D which in practice forms a plurality of door sectionshinged together as above set out to form the grain door proper and whichare also provided with a canvas strip D protecting the joints betweenthe two portions, the portions themselves being preferably built up ofboards tongued and glued into each other as shown in Figure 3 and at thelower end of the portion D there is a canvas strip E so that when thedoor is in use leakage of grain past any of the joints of the door isprevented.

At the free ends of each of the sections D and D there is a cleat ornailing strip E which abuts against the inner face of the door post Band when nailed will hold the grain door fixedly in position. In thenovel arrangement just disclosed it will be noticed that the sections D,D and D form in relation to each other an angle bracing or truss whichconstruction will give much greater strength with lighter thickness ofboards than is possible with the old construction. It will be noticedthat the boards of the door sections D and D are bevelled at F so thatwhen the cleats or nailing strips E are fastened in position there is acomparatively tight joint formed between the grain door and the doorpost B. A canvas strip E is also employed at this portion.

From the above description it will be noted that the door can be readilyadjusted to door openings of different widths and then quickly securedin place by simply nailing the cleat or nailing strips E to the face ofthe door post. Also they can be readily removed when unloading and thesections D removed independently of the sections D Since the apex of thetriangle formed by the grain door is located inwardly of the side of thefreight car, it will be spaced vertically away from the roof of the carat that point since in freight cars of standard construction the roofslants upwardly toward the center of the car as illustrateddiagrammatically in Figure 3. This leaves a space for convenientlyfilling the car; in other words, permits the car to be filled at agreater height than is possible through the old type doors wherein theboards were substantially in the plane of the wall of the car sides.Also by having the grain door extend inwardly in the form of an angle,in case any small amount of grain leaks past the grain door, there willbe a space between the grain door and the regular door of the freightcar in which the grain can accumulate. In unloading the freight car itis only necessary to pry a crowbar or suitable tool between the cleat Eand the door post and to loosen the grain door from the freight car thussimplifying the removal of the grain door and avoiding the removal ofseparate boards.

While I have shown and described my invention, the invention is notlimited to the particular embodiment shown nor to the particularfeatures of construction except as ultimately set forth in the claims.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is:

1. A grain door adapted to form a truss brace for use in freight cars orthe like, comprising a plurality of sections hinged to each other attheir inner ends, the outer ends of said sections having attached stripsadapted to abut against the door post or freight car, and rigidlysecured thereto.

2. A grain door for use in freight cars or the like, comprising aplurality of sections hinged to each other at their inner ends andbeveled at their outer ends and a strip attached to the outer ends ofsaid sections for securing said door to the door post or freight car forpreventing movement of the outer ends of said door when secured, therebyadapting said sections to form a truss brace when in use, said stripsbeing removable from said door and door post or feight car to permit themovement of said sections toward relative alignment.

8. A grain door for use in freight cars or the like, comprising aplurality of sections hinged to each other at their inner ends andbeveled at their outer ends, a removable strip attached to the outerends of said sections for securing said door to the doorpost or freightcar for preventing movement of the outer ends of said door when secured,thereby adapting said door to form a truss base, and for permitting thesections of said door to move toward relative alignment when removed.

' 4. A grain door for use in freight cars or the like, comprising aplurality of sections hinged to each other at their inner ends, a stripattached to the outer ends of said sections for forming an abutment withthe door post and for securing said door to said door post to form atruss brace, said strip being removable from said door and door post topermit the enlargement of the angle between said sections.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ALFRED COPONY.

